Hurricane Before Christmas
by Three Crusaders
Summary: The pups are ready to celebrate Christmas with their families, but when tensions rise, how will a catastrophic event break those tensions. Story: Autobot Lancewing Beta 06 Text: Autobot Lancewing Beta 06, notramjet97, PatchtheProdigy
1. Chapter 1

Hurricane Before Christmas

Chapter 1

It was two days before Christmas. Everyone throughout Adventure Bay was getting ready for the big day. There were dark clouds looming about Adventure Bay, but that didn't stop the Christmas spirit. Heck, an alien invasion couldn't destroy the cheer.

Chase waited on main street next to Katie's shop. He was wearing his dark blue jacket in addition to a red scarf. His paws were shuffling along the sidewalk as he paced back and forth. Rocky, who wore his green jacket and his familiar green and white cap, watched as the police pup paced to and fro. He was actually surprised that the sidewalk still held up.

"Chase, just relax," Rocky said, "They'll be here before you know it."

"I know that, but there are a lot of things that could happen." Chase stared determinedly at the freezing-cold sidewalk on which he paced. His ears twitched at that particular moment.

"Such as…?" Rocky, as skeptical as ever, raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" A snowflake fell on Chase's nose. He jumped around dramatically, his eyes wide and his voice hysterical. "They could get caught in a blizzard!"

"It's not snowing that hard."

"Over here it's not, but then Dad's hip could act up again, and you know how well that will play out."

"Not if your mother follows Miracle's instructions."

Chase stopped before he turned to Rocky. "I guess it_ is_ handy that your girlfriend's a nurse."

"Just like how yours is a pilot?" Rocky retorted, an amused light in his eyes.

Chase's eyes rolled to the sky as he sat down to ponder Rocky's response. Then he looked at Rocky and replied, "Touche."

Katie ran outside of the shop and over to the pups, "I'm really excited to see your parents again, Chase," she excitedly told the Shepherd as she approached.

"Me too," Chase replied, "And it's not because of Swift this time." After a second, he curled up a bit. "I hope Swift isn't after them…"

"Yeah, so meeting them under good circumstances will be good," Rocky told Katie for his friend and fellow pup.

"Unless something happens to them," he quickly chimed in.

"Yeah, Chase," Rocky said, rolling his eyes and ever-so-slightly smirking. "Look behind you."

Expecting the worst, maybe his parents being carried off by a wild tornado or Swift snarling at him, he turned around.

His parents smiled at him, in surprisingly close proximity. "Hello, Chase," Shayla, Chase's fair mother, greeted, "I've been looking forward to seeing you again."

"I have, too!" He enthusiastically nuzzled his mom's side. "I take it you got here okay?"

"Well, we had a few problems," Pace said, glancing at his hip, "but they weren't too troubling."

"That's good. It's great that you're here."

"And we brought along a few old friends."

"Who?" Chase tilted his head.

"Try a few of your teammates' parents," Shayla said.

Chase's jaw dropped, "No way, really?"

"Yeah, we happened to see Splotch and Scruffy on our way here, along with a few others."

"I bet Marshall will be excited," Rocky said, "I wish mine were here too."

Rocky suddenly felt Katie's hand stroke his fur. "I'm sure they would like the same thing."

"They would…" Rocky sighed, "I think I'm gonna go outside."

"Okay. And say 'hi' to Smoky for me when you see him."

"Uh-huh…" Rocky, considerably subdued, walked outside.

Marshall was at the top of City Hall replacing a few of the Christmas lights. Mayor Goodway noticed that an entire string of lights had shorted out, not very sightly in comparison to the rest of City Hall, which was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Out of nowhere, he heard a familiar voice yell, "Hey Marshall, how's the weather up there?"

Marshall glanced down at the source of the voice and saw three pups, namely Miracle, Skye, and Utsukushi. The latter was a white shiba inu pup with a big, brown spot on her back and green eyes that the Dalmatian pup could imagine seeing up there. "Hey girls, what's up?" he called down.

"You are," Miracle, a green-eyed Australian shepherd, joked from the ground.

"Hehe… So, what are you up to?"

"Skye and Miracle are taking me Christmas shopping," Utsukushi explained.

"Nice. Did you find anything?"

"Well, we did find a few things, but we still have more pups to shop for.," Miracle explained.

"Oh, okay then. Have fun."

"Thank you."

Marshall returned to his work, but not before he saw a certain gray pup walking their way, visibly down. "Oh, and Miracle, I think I see your next patient coming around the corner."

Miracle was brought to full attention. "Huh? Who is it?"

"It's Rocky, and he looks kinda down."

"Oh…" Miracle turned to the other girls, "I better go help him. I'll catch up with you, later."

"Okay," Skye said, smiling in that signature Skye way, "We won't be far."

Miracle ran off. She ran around the corner from where she came, and indeed saw Rocky in a rather depressed state. "Rocky? Is everything okay?"

"Huh," Rocky said as he looked up. He saw Miracle right in front of him. He stumbled backwards and faked a smile. "Uh, y-yeah. Never better."

Miracle frowned, "No, I know that look. Something is bothering you."

Rocky sighed, "I'm fine. Okay?"

"Rocky, you can tell me anything."

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Rocky retorted, a touch defensively.

Miracle rolled her eyes. "Because you aren't usually as clumsy as Marshall up there."

The white pup right then stumbled off the roof, landing on a trampoline with a short scream. Skye and Utsu approached, the former giggling squeakily and the other smiling serenely.

"I… I feel kinda… I don't know…"

"Rocky, what is it?"

Rocky looked down as he mumbled, "I wish my parents were here."

Miracle stopped momentarily, then dashed up to him to catch up. "I see, and what gave you that thought?"

Rocky looked up at Miracle. The look on his face was definitely of confusion, and was even a touch desperate for understanding. Somewhere in the background, Utsu shouted something in Japanese.

"I mean, don't take it the wrong way," Miracle celeriously amended. "I would like for everyone to be with their families, but what triggered that thought _other _than that?"

Rocky looked down. "Chase's parents are here, and they said some of the other pups' parents will be here, too."

"Oh. I see."

"Yeah. I sound pretty envious now, don't I?"

"No, actually you don't; I understand how you feel." Miracle walked closer to Rocky. "I'll never get that chance to to see my birth family because I don't even know where they are. And then my owners… Well… You know the story behind that."

Rocky sighed. A tear trickled down his eye. "I know, but at least you never saw your parents laying there dead."

Rocky began to walk away, but Miracle stopped him. "Well, that _is_ true, but you still have Smoky, don't you?"

"And you have the rest of the team," Miracle said as she put one of her paws on his, "And me. We're all your family."

"But… I want my parents…"

"I know." She slowly pulled him into a hug. "But you'll see them again one day."

"But-"

"Besides, do you think your friends would want to celebrate Christmas with you looking like this?"

"Well… Uh…" Rocky lowered his head. "No."

"Then let's celebrate with the ones we do have with us."

Rocky sighed, "I guess…"

Miracle then pulled away. "By the way, where is Smoky?"

Rocky tilted his head. "I don't know."

"Well… It might help if you could find him…"

"That's exactly what I'll do. Besides, Katie did tell me to tell him that she said 'Hi'."

"Good," Miracle smiled, "I better catch back up with the other girls."

"Okay then. See ya back at the Lookout?"

"You know it."

"Alright. And if you see Smoky, let me know."

"I will."

And with that, both pups went their separate ways.

Miracle caught up with Skye and Utsukushi. "Is he okay?" Skye asked.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Miracle answered, "He just needed a little encouragement."

"That's good," Marshall chimed in from his bush.

"I hope he gets better soon…" Utsu sighed.

"I hope so too," Miracle replied expectably, "In the meantime though, where do we go next?"

"I think we'd better go to Hoss," Skye suggested, "There's some good stuff there."

"But isn't all that stuff last year's fashion?" Utsukushi asked.

Skye lowered her ears with a nervous smile. "Well, yeah, but at least everything's been reduced."

Utsu hmm-phed, "Why would anyone want to wear those old clothes?"

"I'd say the same thing about those who wear expensive clothes," Miracle retorted with a smirk.

Utsukushi rolled her eyes, "Some wear fashionable clothes better than others."

Miracle's smirk was immediately wiped away, replaced by a bemused look.

"So, shall we get going," Skye asked. "I don't want to keep Chase waiting."

Miracle raised an eyebrow. "And what do you two plan to do?"

"Just spend time with his parents, mostly."

"Oh yeah, Rocky did say that they're here, as well as Marshall's parents."

"Marshall's parents?" Utsu was curious.

"Yeah, and one of them is a retired member of the PAW Patrol.

"Hmm, did they serve with Chase's parents?"

"They did actually," Skye said, "And from what I heard, his mother was amazing."

"Interesting…"

The Australian Shepherd of the group nodded. "Yeah. I also heard that some of them did not leave on a friendly note."

"Oh?" Utsu asked, her eyes shooting even more widely open.

"Yeah, some of them apparently left."

"Why?"

"Well, some of them wanted to be associated with alley dogs, as Chase told me."

Utsu frowned, "What? Why on earth would they want to do that? Alley dogs?"

Miracle sighed wearily. "Because of some… things that some of the gangs do that the PAW Patrol would not tolerate."

"So...why would they want to associate with them?" Skye asked, frowning. "Did they just go bad?"

Miracle's white-tipped paws slapped a bit of snow aside. "Because some pups are just bad like that. Believe me, Chase knows."

Skye shuddered at the thought of the incident with Swift. That incident really was a nightmare, especially for Chase. Chase's worst nightmare.

"Anyway, let's get going," Miracle said. "The sooner we get done, the sooner Sky can get to her date."

Skye blushed at Miracles remark.

"And the sooner we get into that store, the sooner we can leave," Utsu added.

Miracle rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed with Utsu's answer. "Right… That too…"

"Well then, let's go."

Rocky found Smoky, sitting at The Lookout, looking over all the snow-covered rigs. He was an dark gray hybrid pup with a black patch over his left eye. He was holding a torn brown teddy bear; a very special teddy bear. He quietly walked over to Smoky.

When he was close enough, he finally greeted his brother, "Hey, Smoky."

Smoky turned suddenly and say his brother's face. "Hey Rocky," he greeted, his voice a little bit distant. The black pup, though normally quite bombastic, was certainly the type to get lost in things.

"Checking out the rigs?"

"Yeah. They look good with the snow on them." He smiled a bit dimly, his eyes a tiny bit unfocused. A tooth stuck out of his upper jaw.

Rocky chuckled, just standing next to the smaller pup and taking in the sight of his, Zuma's, and Rubble's snow-covered rigs. "That they do. So what's up?"

"Well… Uh… Nothing really," Smoky said, pulling his paw just slightly closer. It was the paw clutching the bear.

Rocky sighed. "It's Mom and Dad, isn't it?"

Smokey didn't answer. He just hung his head.

Rocky wrapped one of his forelegs around Smoky's coarse-furred back. "Hey, they're in a better place now."

"But I want them here right now."

"I know… I do, too, but right now, all we can do is celebrate with the ones who _are _here." Comforting the other pup made Rocky himself feel a bit better.

Smoky remained silent.

Rocky chuckled, "You know, Miracle actually called everyone in the PAW Patrol her family."

Smoky didn't react for a moment, then said, "Come again?"

"Well, she just sees all of us as her family, since she never really had one."

"What about those humans that raised her?"

"Maybe at first, but then they abandoned her-" Rocky stopped and sighed. "And then we took her in. Now she has home, pups who care about her, and even a job."

"Yeah… I guess we do, too… Maybe the PAW Patrol is our family, too…"

"Exactly, so even though our family isn't here, just know that we're surrounded by pups, and people, who care for us."

Just then, Zuma the chocolate lab darted up to Rocky and Smoky. He stopped just millimeters from the two. He looked rather distressed. "Wocky! Did you hear?"

Rocky and Smoky looked at each other, then Zuma. "About what?"

"About the pawents showing up."

Smoky tilted his head. "Yeah, I heard, but why are you-"

"Wowwied! That's because I am, dude!"

"Why?" Rocky asked, his paw unconsciously flying off of his brother.

"My parents hate each other!"

"Why do they hate each other?" Smoky asked.

"Because my mom betwayed the PAW Patwol."

Now it was Rocky and Smoky's turn to exclaim, "What?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A dumbstruck Rocky and Smoky stared at Zuma. Their mouths hung wide open, showing all of their well-developed canines and molars (they brushed every day). Yes, it was already known that there were dogs who left the PAW Patrol, but they didn't know that Zuma's mother was one of them. It was practically unheard of for a mother to turn on her own family, even more so to turn back to them after the fact.

"And she's coming here?!" Smoky finally asked, incredulously. For once, he was the first one to snap out of the stupor.

The labrador nodded, a worried look across his little puppy features. "And I'm afwaid that they'll ruin everything."

"That would be hard to swallow," Rocky replied, cringing at the idea. "But what can _we_ do about it?"

"Maybe keep them from getting together," Smoky offered.

"Yeah, but that's gonna be impossible… We'd have to do it for sevewal days!" Zuma shook his head. "They'd notice and get mad."

"Well, technically we'd have to do it for-" Rocky's voice trailed off as he started counting on his paws. When he finished, he continued, "Three or four days."

"That's still a long time," Zuma replied, almost moaning.

"Yes, I agree with Zuma," Smoky said, his green eyes flitting between the two older pups. We should think of something else." Smoky said.

"But what?" Rocky asked, a skeptical frown on his muzzle.

"I… don't know, but we'll need help." Zuma said, shaking his head. His floppy ears swung from side to side as he did so.

"Not to mention they'll both want to see you, Zuma." That gave Rocky an idea. "Hey, what if they saw you separately?"

"How can I do that? They'll eventually meet each othew."

"I know, but maybe, just maybe, we could get them to do things separately."

"But what?"

"Taking a tour of the town, maybe?"

"That would work," Zuma said, "Except both were members of the PAW Patwol, and Mom's been living in the alleys."

Smoky winced, "Ouch… She really had to move to the alleys?"

"No, she chose to live there," Zuma answered, as if it were obvious. He sounded distressed nonetheless.

"Oh…"

Elsewhere, Marshall changed the final light at town hall. He smiled at his work, and started down the ladder.

"Hey kiddo! How's the weather up there?"

Marshall looked down. He saw two dalmatians, one male and one female. He squinted and saw that female dalmatian, Scruffy, wore the standard PAW Patrol tag, both with a gold frame rather than silver, just like Pace's. Then there was the male dalmatian, Splotch, who wore a plain collar, but again had a gold frame. Marshall immediately recognized the dalmatian pair.

He exclaimed, "Mom! Dad!"

He tried to trot quickly down the ladder, but slipped and slid down the ladder with a, "Ow! Oh! Ee! Ow!" He landed at the bottom in his seat. The visor of his helmet covered his eyes; after he nudged it up, he grinned shyly. "I'm okay."

The female shot a bemused look between the two males. "Like father like son, huh Splotch?"

Splotch chuckled at her remark. "Yeah, but his skin is as thick as his mother."

"I swear, the clumsy gene is dominant…" Scruffy smirked as she turned to her son. "How are you, Marshall?"

Marshall hopped out of his vehicle and skipped over to them. "I'm great. Missions have been exciting, my teammates have been awesome, and…" Marshall looked down. For some reason, he was always a bit flustered when he mentioned her. "I met someone."

Scruffy started with, "As in… a-"

Splotch interrupted, "A cat?"

Marshall tilted his head. "Huh? What? No, not even close. No! I mean a g-"

"Gerbil?" Splotch suggested. His tail wagged, as if it was a fun guessing game.

"No, a-"

"Gorilla?!" Splotch exclaimed, suddenly straightening out and looking shocked. "What have I told you about associating with rogue gorillas, son?!"

"No, not a gorilla! A girl!"

Scruffy's ears twitched. "Did you say a girl?"

"Yeah. Her name is Oot, uh… I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but I call her Utsu for short."

Scruffy suddenly laid down to Marshall's level. Her paws rested on her cheeks. "What is she like? This 'Utsu?'"

"Um… She's nice, and great to play with, and a terrific translator..." That look his mother was giving him was extremely awkward. It was difficult to describe her truthfully; it was tough to put it into words. "Maybe I'll introduce you to her!"

"Okay then. Let's go," Scruffy said as she walked away, her body language suddenly moderately aggressive and. Marshall looked at Scruffy with a weird look.

"Uh… Okay then… Let's go…" Splotch followed his mate.

Marshall blinked several times. "Uh, guys. Last I heard, she went with some friends to Hoss."

"Oh, okay. Would you mind leading the way, son?" Splotch asked.

Marshall nodded before walking in a different direction. Both of his parents followed.

Miracle and Skye were searching through the racks of Hoss while Utsukushi simply watched. She couldn't bear to touch any of those dirty, old clothes… well, they've never been worn, but still, they were old, by almost a year. Even the smell of the old clothes was getting to her.

"Hey girls, are you done yet?" she asked tentatively, but also slightly disgustedly.

"No…" Miracle replied, absentmindedly as pulled yet another jacket from the rack. "Oh wow, this looks amazing, wouldn't you agree Skye?"

Skye looked the jacket Miracle was holding. She grinned, "Oh yes! That would look great on you!"

Utsukushi sighed harshly. That was the fifth time asked if it was time to go, and nothing was happening! She was just about ready to just wait outside, at least she'd be away from the smell.

Just then, she spotted Marshall walking into the store. "Well, at least there was something to make this better," she thought. But then, she noticed that a couple of dalmatians were following him. "Who are those two?"

She walked up to the trio with a concerned look on her face. She got up to Marshall's ear and whispered, "Hey Marshall, don't panic, but there are two strange dogs standing right behind you."

"Huh?" Marshal looked behind him, then back at Utsukushi, "Oh, no, those are my parents."

Her eyes widened. "_Nani_?" She looked at the two. She immediately noticed the collars which had the gold frame, along with Scruffy's PAW Patrol badge, a fire helmet. "Oh. Uh… My mistake." She stepped forward to his parents, "_Haikei_, Marshall's parents. It is an honor to meet you." She followed it with a bow.

"Oh...Um… Hello…" Marshall's mother greeted back, "It's nice to meet you…"

"The pleasure is mine." Utsukushi smiled.

"You're foreign, right?" Scruffy interrupted.

"Yes," Utsu said, not missing a beat and not looking the slightest bit discomforted by the name.

"And… Uh… What's your name?"

"Oh, of course. My name is Utsukushi. What are yours?"

"My name's Scruffy, and this is my mate, Splotch."

"Splucsh, Sluptch… Splotch?"

"Yeah," Splotch affirmed.

"Oh, I see. And I see Scruffy was in the PAW Patrol as well."

Scruffy gasped. "In it? My team was nothing without me!"

"Uh, didn't Pace-"

"Yeah, but Scruffy was the best member on the team," Marshall interrupted. He whispered in her ear, "And she won't see it any other way."

"Oh… I see…!" Utsukushi nodded politely. "And I take it you were a fire pup."

"That's right. I never tire when there's fire."

"I imagine you were quite a hero in your day," Utsu went on.

"Oh yeah, then I retired due to fact that _someone_ was getting a little too nervous," Scruffy's smirked as she focused her gaze on Splotch.

"That's not true," Splotch laughed, "You quit because of the flood."

"I heard that was terrible," Utsukushi said, her ears slicking down and her countenance becoming strained.

"More than you know, pup," Scruffy answered.

Utsukushi cleared her throat. She wasn't sure how she took to being called a 'pup.' "There have been earthquakes and tsunamis of all sorts in Japan," she replied in a dignified voice, "But never have I even heard of a flood that devastated an entire bay."

"It took half the island, and part of it is still submerged."

"My word…" Utsukushi put a paw over her mouth, all memories of being called 'pup' forgotten. "That's terrible."

"That it is," Splotch replied, "And if I remember correctly, it left Pace with a pretty big injury."

"It did," Scruffy said, "It damaged his hip, and while it did heal for the most part, it became arthritic."

"Oh… I see… And who was Pace again?"

"He was the first member of the PAW Patrol and Chase's father," Marshall answered.

Utsu blushed. "Oh, right. I forgot."

"Yeah. So what do you do?"

"Well… I work as a model… so, I… I'm not quite fond of this establishment."

"A model you say?" Scruffy raised an eyebrow.

She nodded.

She looked at Marshall with a wide grin. "Look at my little boy, going for someone way up there."

"Mom, what do you mean?" Marshall asked, frowning.

Utsukushi giggled, Marshall always looked so cute. "Well...I'm not really 'up there,' as you put it. Marshall's just so wonderful."

"I see… Um… Will you excuse us for a moment?" Scruffy asked.

"Uh… _Hai_. I need to go and check on Skye and Miracle, anyway." Utsukushi bowed, "It was nice to meet you."

"It was nice meeting you, too."

When Marshall was out of hearing range and they were outside of the store, Scruffy said to her mate, "I don't like her with Marshall."

A surprised Splotch asked, "Why not? She looks decent."

"Because, she's a model, she's foreign-"

Splotch glared at her. "Way to not sound racist…"

Scruffy rolled her eyes, "What I mean to say is that he's probably just interested in her because she's not someone he'd normally see. She's way out of his league."

"Oh come on! You should know your son better than that."

"And what if she's using him for whatever reason?"

"No, Marshall's got a good judge of character, and I'm sure there'd be more to this story than you thi-"

"Well, color me skeptical, then. She will break his heart, Splotch. I know it."

"Let's just sit back and watch. Maybe she'll surprise you."

"For his sake, I hope you're right."

"C'mon, Utsukushi, my mom doesn't hate you," Marshall assured her, grinning a bit sheepishly. His paw was patting her shoulder.

"No, I could tell. It really became apparent when I told her I was a model." Utsu shook her long fur out. She looked distressed for sure at the prospect.

"What does that have to do with anything?" the Dalmatian questioned, rocking a bit on the spot.

"No doubt she was thinking about how I would hurt you… Even when I could never, ever do that to you."

"Then why do you think that she would think that?" Marshall was baffled. "I mean what makes modelling so bad? All it is is putting on clothes and taking pictures."

"You remember those _other _models?"

"Oh yeah… But still. What do we do? How do we let her know you won't hurt me?"

"I know… And I obviously can't just tell her… So… I guess I'll have to show her." Utsu suddenly looked determined.

Marshall gave her a puzzled look. "Show her? How?"

"That's the thing, I don't know." She deflated a bit, then asked, "Any ideas?"

"Well… Uh… Hey! Miracle and Skye are in the store, and they're girls who are dating. Maybe they have some ideas."

"Perhaps… But, let me see what I can come up with, first. Okay?"

Marshall tilted his head. "But you asked me for ideas, didn't you?"

"I know, but let's just keep this to ourselves for now." The truth was, Utsukushi didn't want to ask the others for help. She and Marshall could figure this out on their own, right? And who wanted to give that prim-and-proper Miracle or that giggly Skye the idea that they could help her?

Having always been an intuitive pup who picked up somewhat on the thoughts of his friend, he stuttered "O-okay…" while watching the approaching Skye.

"Marshall," the cockapoo exclaimed as she approached him, "We didn't expect to see you here."

Both pups jolted. They turned to Skye with exaggerated smiles on their faces. "Hey Skye," Marshall said, "I finally got those lights fixed."

"That's good, Marshall," Skye grinned, giggling. "We just finished our Christmas shopping."

"Awesome. Too bad you missed my parents though!" The Dalmatian chucked nervously.

Skye blinked. "Wait, your parents are here?"

"Well, they just left the store a few seconds ago, but yep."

"Oh, maybe I can catch up with them. C'mon, Miracle!"

"Um…" Miracle looked at the items that she had yet to pay for. "I should pay for these first, you go on ahead."

"Okey dokey!" Skye leapt up and got skipping away.

"I'll go with you, Skye." Marshall offered, hurrying up to flank her. The two ignored any further comment as they rushed up to catch the quickly-disappearing older dogs.

"Oh! Uhh…"

Marshall bounded back; Skye stopped and gazed curiously in his direction. "Utsu, d'ya want to come along and ask my parents for a plan? They might be able to help…"

The Shiba Inu looked confused. "Err… You don't need to ask me."

"I know...but I feel a bit bad."

"Why would you feel bad, Marshall?" Miracle asked.

Marshall froze. "Um… B-because I don't like leaving pups all alone without their consent."

Utsu nearly scoffed. "Why not?"

"But...um…" Marshall tried to think of a reason.

"Marshall, I just need to go," Utsu cut across, "This place is giving me allergies."

"Oh, uh… Okay." Marshall wagged his tail. "See you around!"

"Bye!"

Utsukushi, Marshall, Skye, and the parents had disappeared. It took Miracle a moment to realize: she was all alone, had a mountain of things to buy, and Utsu was the one with the money.

"Oh biscuits," she murmured, shaking her head.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Scruffy and Splotch happened to be marching back towards the Lookout for not the first time that day. The silence between them was not comforting or tense, but more understanding: they were looking for a few old friends, and that was all.

Suddenly, Marshall could be heard from behind shouting, "Hey Mom! Dad! Wait up!"

Both dalmatians turned and saw Marshall running up to them with a cockapoo and a Shiba inu following. Scruffy sighed. "Well, here _she _is," the older female muttered.

Splotch frowned. Why did his wife have to be _so _judgemental with someone she'd just met? He never understood that...

Scruffy rolled her eyes, but put on a brave face, which was more of a fake smile. "Hey pups," she said.

Utsu again didn't like the idea of being called a 'pup,' but she decided to keep her reactions to a minimum since she was already under hot water with Scruffy. "Um… _Haikei _again," she said with a dip of her head. "It seems someone else wants to meet you."

"Oh...really?" Scruffy asked.

"Yep, it's Skye!" Marshall gestured grandly to the tiny cockapoo at his side.

Skye nods. "You're the original fire pup, right Mrs. Marshall?"

Scruffy grinned, her pride being stroked as she spoke, "Indeed I was, and the best one at the time. And you're the aviation pup, right?"

Skye did a backflip. "Yep! This pup's gotta fly!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you." She clicked her tongue. _It'd be lovely if it was _her _Marshall liked, rather than that Japanese pup… She's hyper but sweet..._ "And I also hear that you have a thing for the current police pup."

Skye put a paw over her mouth, trying to control a giggle, "You mean Chase? Yeah, this'll be our first Christmas as a couple, and I'm really excited."

"I could imagine. And how is he by the way?"

"He's great. It's not serious, like that one _incident _with Swift a while back…" she wiggled her ear uncertainly, "he just slipped over himself while trying to impress me."

"That's good," Splotch noted. "Not the hurting himself bit, but the fact that he's recovering."

"Yeah… And, well, I guess you know about Marshall and Utsu." Skye giggled as the pair of them, one confused and the other annoyed, looked at her.

"Yeah…" Scruffy eyed Utsukushi warily.

"Don't they look cute together?" Skye swooned.

After much hesitation and scrutinization, Scruffy replied, slowly, "Yes, they're the cutest couple in all of Adventure Bay..."

Utsu tried to hold a lump in her throat. She could see the sarcasm in Scruffy's voice the moment she said "cutest couple." Not a comforting thought, but if need be, she could hold her own in the sarcastic department. Dealing with overdramatic, harsh models gave her the necessary experience.

"So where's the rest of your team?" Skye asked.

"Well, golly…" Splotch tried to think. "Well…"

"Forgot me already?" a voice said as it got closer. Both parents and pups turned around, surprised at the sight of a tall, dark chocolate lab with gold eyes that were too similar to Zuma's to be a coincidence. "Now that's just hurtful." The female dog shook her head and smirked.

Scruffy's eyes narrowed as Splotch's widened. "Gemini?"

"Of course, you show up." Scruffy rolled her eyes. "Why aren't you with the alley dogs? Did you get sick of them?" Her voice was bitingly cold.

Gemini grinned, showing her yellowing and sharp teeth. "Oh dear Scruffler… Don't you pretend that you weren't upset to see me go."

"You had a choice, and you chose to leave us."

"And like I said when I left, I just wasn't feeling it."

"You skived us off for some muttley friends…"

Gem's ear twitched. "At least they had more adventure than you could ever offer."

"As if… what about the annual trips to Europe, ah? Those weren't adventurous enough for ya?!"

"I was still bound by rules then."

"But there was nothing wrong with our rules," Splotch pointed out.

"Exactly! Thank you, Splotch. Now, if we've determined that you aren't PAW Patrol material, why are you _here?!_"

Gem shook her head with a smirk, "Don't I have the right to see my son? It is Christmas after all."

"Strays don't celebrate Christmas, they don't have a _culture _like that," Scruffy hissed through clenched teeth.

"Oh you'd be surprised. After all, when was the last time you checked out the alleys?"

"Guys, I think we should calm down…" Splotch suggested.

"Do you notice this badge that I'm wearing?" Scruffy demanded, pointing to her silver badge. "It gives me authority over grimy butts like yours. If you do something wrong, put so much as one toe out of line-"

"You can't touch me." A smirk still covered Gemini's muzzle.

"I can prosecute you to the full extent of the law, I can!"

"Well isn't it funny that while you're willing to prosecute me, you allowed _another_ alley dog onto your team?"

The surprised look on the pups' face was enough to get Gemini to let out a husky laugh. "Oh, news travels like wildfire on the streets. I know all _about _the Aussie shepherd, and the onslaught of random members to this ragtag team."

The gold eyes that looked so much sharper than Zuma's, but were clones the other way, suddenly shifted to the pups there. She frowned. "Where is the alley dog anyway?"

"Not here," Skye piped up. She looked very uncertain as to what she had just watched. Really, the argument was petty, in her eyes, but there were strong reasons for it… and it really wasn't petty when she thought about it.

"Well, that's rather unfortunate." Gemini turned back to Scruffy. "But still, I don't want you to throw that 'holier than thou' attitude at me while she's still on the team. I have the hypocrite card, y'know."

"The only reason why she's on the team is because she earned her position," Scruffy growled, "And she definitely wouldn't abandon us now."

"And how do you know that she won't now?" Gem challenged.

"She isn't like you."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because she was forced into that life," Skye barked. When both female dogs' heads whipped to the cockapoo, she meekly ducked her head and stared at her paws. "I-I mean… her owners abandoned her when they moved. She had no choice..."

"And you think _that's _relevant? The appeal of a stray comes with having no random rules to limit you. Are you sure she just didn't make that-"

"Enough," another voice barked, the voice commanding. Everyone looked at the source of the voice: it was usually jolly-enough old Pace, though he was glaring daggers at both Scruffy and Gemini. "Is it really necessary to argue just two days before Christmas?"

Scruffy growled at Gemini, who let out a warning bark.

"Now, I don't condone what Gemini did, but there is no call to make a spectacle right here in front of everyone!"

"Well, technically not everyone," Splotch muttered. He looked a lot more ashamed than the actual perpetrators.

"It doesn't matter." Pace turned his head to Gemini. "And you, I would much rather that you cleaned yourself up before you came here, but it is Christmas after all, and you do have the right to see your son."

Gem's glare lingered on Scruffy for a moment before she briefly flitted her eyes towards Pace. "I don't need your permission, but thanks, I guess."

"But for Zuma's sake, I hope you and Thala don't argue like this right in front of him. Believe me, he is a strong pup, but he can only take so much. I suggest you don't test his limits."

Gemini didn't respond for a long time. But finally, she muttered, "Fine. By the way, where is this new member."

Both Utsu and Skye looked at each other and said in unison, "Uh oh." Without another word, they both sped off to Hoss.

Smoky and Rocky were standing only a few yards away from the arguers. Rocky's jaw was hanging down, and Smoky's ears were pricked abnormally.

The darker-furred of the two was the first to regain footing. "Wow, and that's _Zuma's_ mom," Smoky asked.

"'Parently," Rocky nodded. It was undeniable, considering her physical resemblance. The fighty dog didn't even come close to the calm and somewhat pacifistic pup he knew. "And if she fights like that, then no wonder Zuma has a problem with his parents showing up."

"Any ideas?"

"Well, kind of… We just need to get the warning out to Thala, he's probably more grounded than… than her." He bumped his cap with his paw. "We oughta keep an eye out for him…"

"Okey Smoky."

"Hmm…"

Chase "hmmed" to himself as he looked over his work: the roaring fireplace that didn't actually contain fire. Decorations of tinsel and lights were already surrounding the brick part, as per Ryder's work (though the shepherd proudly had decided what went where). Wreaths covered in bows were on either side of the fireplace.

He gave the rest of the room a once-over. The entire room, the second floor with the pet beds for guests, had been covered by his own work. The only traditional thing missing was the Christmas tree, which Ryder was hoping to get that afternoon. Really, it looked like something out of a movie! Not even a broken leg could get him down for the holidays. Christmas was his favorite time of the year.

"Oh no…"

A feather was fluttering through the air, high over his head. The shepherd turned tail and run as quickly as he could with his cast as casty as it ever was, mainly around the couch that'd been pulled out for the occasion but occasionally straying towards the pet beds or the big talking snowman he'd set up in one corner (it laughed merrily and said, "Happy birthday!" gleefully). The feather chased him wherever he went.

In a feat of clumsiness that would do Marshall proud Chase tripped, falling good leg first into a box filled with packing peanuts.

That accursed white feather flew onto his nose, and...

"Ah… CHOO!"

The force of his sneeze was enough to cause the box to slide a bit across the room and fall over.

As if his humiliation couldn't get any worse, the door to the floor opened up.

Even worse, Skye, Utsukushi and Marshall who came in to their leading PAW Patrol pup, inside a box, with packing peanuts on his head.

Marshall looked amused, Utsukushi's chest fur fluffed out, and Skye giggled. "You missed a spot, Chase," the cockapoo called out in singsong, as she walked up to him. Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled a Santa hat out and put it over his ears.

"...Hi Skye."

"What happened here?" Marshall's blue eyes wandered between the feather, the fireplace, and his friend.

"An encounter with a feather." Chase got up, his leg _mercifully _not doing anything out of the ordinary. Miracle had put it on so thickly that he couldn't move his joint, and then some. She would flip out if all of her hard work was ruined. "What's goin' on?"

"Some of the parents of the PAW Patrol have arrived, _e to,_" Utsu said.

"Oh, wow, that was quick. Who all is here?"

"Mine so far. Zuma's mom is here, too." Marshall and Skye exchanged a worried glance.

That didn't escape Chase's notice. "What's with Zuma's mom?"

"She left the PAW Patrol for the low life of being a stray," Skye said, shaking her head sadly. "She argued with Marshall's mom."

Utsukushi looked considerably put off by the mention of Scruffy. That also didn't escape Chase's notice, though he didn't comment on the translator. "Ohhhh… How come?"

Another interruption came: Ryder came along, decked out with a Santa hat and a Santa coat, carrying along a rather large fir tree. Skye bounced and squeaked. "It's here, it's here, it's heeeeeere!"

"What is?" Utsukushi asked, turning around on her feet. "Oh, you mean Santa."

Ryder chuckled, pushing a few strands of his funky-rad hair out of his eyes. "Nah, just me. I have the tree, though."

Skye bounced up and down repeatedly. "I wanna start decorating it RIGHT NOW!"

"Me too! Me too!" Marshall exclaimed.t He jumped up, but stumbled on his face and chuckled nervously.

"Me three!" Rubble exclaimed. He still had a helmet on; while all of what had been happening, he had just come in from a hockey game with Lightning.

"Okay, pups. Just give me a minute to get this set up."

He walked further into the room, Katie lifting the top side of the tree, when Chase exclaimed, "This is gonna be the best Christmas EVER!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The pups, their parents, Katie, and Ryder were outside decorating the tree. Skye's wings (being her jetpack, not an actual pair of cockapoo wings) greatly helped in putting Rocky's recycled ornaments on branches that no one else could reach. There were a bunch of those, too: the tree that the young Ryder had chosen was at least twelve feet tall and was twice as tall as the lad, even with his hair spiking up like it was.

It wasn't long before Miracle finally showed up with another labrador, no doubt Thala. He had same coat as Zuma's, but his eyes were a shiny blue and his paws huge. The former eco Pup of the team approached the group, his long muzzle covered with a toothy grin. "Heyo," he said, "Splish-spash, this old guy'll swim in a flash, right?"

"Hey Thala," Splotch said as he trooped up to Thala. Snow crunched in between his toes. "How're the fleas?"

The two dogs chuckled. It was common knowledge that the pair were best buddies; back in the day, it was common for them to drive each other's rigs to the rescue.

"Oh they're long gone, and you know that."

"Yeah, I figured as much. How're the contraptions?"

Thala shrugged. "It's a great hobby and an art. But anyway, how are you?"

"I-"

"I was just fine before _she _showed up."

Thala's ears twitched as he looked inquisitively over at the female dalmatian who interrupted them. "Who? The medic?"

Scruffy sharply retorted, "Who else? She made quite the scene earlier today!"

Thala looked over to his friend. Splotch made an affirmative motion.

"Why does that not surprise me?" He heaved a sigh.

"Hey, it's not your fault, she chose to live the way she did."

"I know. Still upsets me. The dog leaves her job, honor, mate and son behind for some Rottie she met in the alleys. Irresponsible."

"That's right," Shayla said as she frowned over at the duo. "You can tell someone what's right and what's wrong, but at the end of the day, it's that pup's decision. Believe me, I know." Her eyes clouded over; it was clear to Rubble, Skye, and Rocky, the three pups present, just what she was referring to. Despite their lack of causal relationships to the instance with Swift, they didn't like the expression of Shayla's.

Everyone remained silent for a moment more.

Somewhere in the world, someone sneezed.

Thala bravely cleared his throat. "So, what's new?"

"Well, nothing really. Just the usual stuff." Splotch picked up a Christmas tree-shaped ornament and jumped up to get it higher up in the tree.

"Come on, there's gotta be something."

"Nope. Sorry." He put his large, squarish paw up on the edge of the cardboard box in which the ornaments were piled up. "Is something going on with you?"

"Sorry, but I have no news here."

"How can you expect him to have news for you then, hm?" Scruffy asked, her nostrils flaring. An amused look appeared on her face.

Splotch shrugged. "Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?"

Miracle placed an ornament on Rocky's catapult. She closed one of her eyes, letting her dominant eye (her right one) take control. Once she was sure of where she was aiming, she launched the ornament into the tree. Unfortunately, Skye ended up in the ornament's trajectory and struck her in the head.

"Ow," she yelped. She looked in the ornament's path to see an apologetic Miracle looking at her.

"Sorry about that," Miracle said, "I didn't see you coming."

"That's okay," Skye said as she rubbed her head. "At least it wasn't a tin can; I'd need a tetanus shot if that happened."

"Actually, you already had one."

"Oh, right. Still, not a big fan of needles."

"I know what you mean." Miracle loaded another ornament onto the catapult and aimed in another direction. She barked, "Fore," before she launched it.

This time, the ornament made contact with only the tree. It sat on top of one tough branch that didn't even bob too much when it landed. She barked a celebratory "Bullseye!"

"Nice shot," Chase said as he half-ambled, half-limped up to Miracle.

The female pup smiled widely and happily replied, "Thanks!"

Another ornament, fashioned after a candy cane, flew up one of the branches adjacent to the large red ball Miracle had launched.

Its source was a smirking Pace. The German shepherd had walked over from decorating the extremely huge Christmas tree in the front to the other pups, who worked dutifully inside on the not-as-large-but-still-twelve-foot-tall tree.

"Hi dad," Chase greeted him enthusiastically. The tree had many bald spots where ornaments didn't cover, but the pups had only just started and were continuing. When they were done, it'd look like it came right out of a movie, he was sure of it.

"Well Chase, you pups have really outdone yourselves this time." Pace beamed at his son and the other pups' work.

"Well thanks Dad, but you all pitched in."

The older dog chuckled and responded, "Well, a bit, but you guys gave it personality and a zing."

"Zing?" A certain chocolate brown pup trotted in, frowning gently and looking rightfully confused.

Pace chuckled. "It's like, erm… Pizazz!"

"Pizazz? What's that?"

"It's like, ah, a personal touch. Something that makes it… unique!" Pace grinned and brightened up: _unique! _That was a perfect word for it.

"Oh. Okay."

Skye dropped the star on top of the tree. "There, now we're done."

"It just needs a bit of tinsel," Rubble enthusiastically exclaimed. He picked up the long silver snake of material in his jaws and dragged it up to the tree. He set it down, then barked. "Ryder, we need you!"

"I'm on it," Ryder said as he walked up to the box. He started wrapping it around the tree. He eventually needed Marshall's ladder to get higher up the tree. (Of course, as much was because he couldn't reach, nor could his hair.)

The moment Ryder finished, though, magic seemed to flit across every single pup and person in the room's faces. Rubble gasped as it happened, Chase just grinned, and Skye giggled.

"This is the best tree we've ever had," Rubble exclaimed.

"Couldn't agree more," Pace replied.

Skye bounced up and giggled. "This is gonna be the best holiday _ever!_"

Later on, night fell across Adventure Bay. Sooner and with less strife than usual, the people and canines all settled in on the cushy second floor, with the tree and the fireplace. The only argument that had led up to everyone's peaceful expressions on their faces as they slept had been between Scruffy and Gemini.

"I wouldn't dare sleep next to a traitorous mutt like this one!" Scruffy had shouted, her eyes sharp and her glare harsher than ever.

It only took about five minutes to get Scruffy to sleep on the opposite side of the room as Gemini without whining about it. An extra two minutes was spent getting Gem to stop grumbling about the Dalmatian.

It was only a half an hour after that argument that everyone went to sleep.

The peace of the night was cut through by a siren. Ryder was the first up, his eyes extremely wide, though the siren disturbed everybody in the Lookout.

Scruffy was on her feet. "What's going on? Why's the alarm sounding?"

Ryder jumped off of the couch on which he'd been resting. "PAW Patrol, there's a hurricane outside!"

The windows all around the lookout showed the hurricane at work. Leaves were hardly noticeable flying through the air; a wig, some clothes, and entire branches were actually soaring around without halt. Across one of the closest streets, a plastic table was moving, like a ball rolling across a smooth surface.

One large, tall tree had fallen, going right across the street and destroying the yards between two houses and just missing the homes themselves.

"PAW Patrol, we've got to get downstairs. The siren means that the hurricane is getting worse!"

Everyone balked at him for a moment.

"Well, what're we waiting for?!" Pace barked. "Lead the way, Ryder!"

Chase was actually the one to lead the way, lumbering ahead of everyone else in spite of his paw injury. He went down the emergency steps three at a time as everyone followed.

Everyone finally made it downstairs to the basement of the Lookout. Even underground, the siren penetrated their ears, but only slightly.

A tense air went about the room as they all sat there. When Thala had been sitting next to Gemini, he moved away, giving the she-dog a dirty look.

Ryder, feeling very grown up and mature all of a sudden, saw the need to separate everyone; there were disaster protection rooms in the basement, ten of them.

Hence, Pace, Shayla and Miracle took one room, Scruffy, Splotch and Marshall another, Rocky, Smoky, Zuma, and Rubble in the one adjacent to that, and so on. He made extra-sure that Utsukushi and Gemini stayed well away from Scruffy, and that the latter also kept her distance from Thala. He just hoped that Utsu and Gem wouldn't bite each other's heads off…

Some of the canines found it sound and easy to get to sleep.

Ryder on the other hand couldn't find it in himself to go to sleep. He was much too concerned about the people aboveground: Mayor Goodway, Alex, Captain Turbot… Katie especially. He had many human friends, but his best human friend was the blonde-haired girl his age. She was his second best friend in total, behind Chase.

It had crossed his mind that, possibly, he and Katie would end up together, like Pace and Shayla or Thala and Gemini before Gem made the decision to leave everyone. It didn't freak him out (the thought had felt more like a calm, ever-present one than a realization).

He was too worried to get to sleep, anyway.

"Ryder?"

Ryder didn't even have to look to know that it was Chase who said that. "Hey Chase. Can't sleep?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Chase replied, with a small smile Ryder couldn't see.

"Oh… Well... Wanna talk then?"

"If it gets my mind off of everything, I'd like to."

"Okay then…"

"And it's not just this storm; it's Gemini and Utsu."

Ryder looked up, surprised. He'd put Chase in with Gem and Utsukushi for a reason. "What, they're fighting?" He _knew _he should have put Gem alone.

"No… Actually, they're hitting it off. I think they're bonding because Scruffy dislikes their company."

Ryder looked surprised for a moment, but the image of Utsukushi and Gemini, the loners, bonding, made him crack a smile. "That's good."

Chase suddenly whimpered. Quickly, he asked, "Why did she do it?"

Ryder finally looked at Chase, vestiges of his smile still on his face. "Why did she do what?"

"Why did she turn on the PAW Patrol?"

"Oh, that. Well, she never did tell us... but I think the reason behind it could be the loss of our search and rescue pup, Gallant."

"Oh."

Ryder nodded. "The two were best friends. They were like you and Marshall."

"But if that's the case, then why didn't she say anything?"

Ryder crossed his arms behind his head. "Well, it is a guess after all, so I don't know if that's the real reason, but she always was a bit rough around the edges. She always liked appearing tough, and she used to let her guard down around him. If you can keep a secret, I think she wanted to have his pups."

"Ohhh..."

A pause filled the air. It was broken when Chase said, "And what do you think will happen when this storm blows over?"

"That's a question I don't know the answer to. We'll just have to wait."

"Okay… I think I might try and get back to bed…"

"'Kay, good night, buddy."

"Goodnight Ryder," Chase said as he walked back to his room.

Ryder took one last look at the elevator. He thought longingly of his couch, as he had to lay down on the ground in there, but knew that it wasn't.

He spied, for the first time, Zuma laying in the corner. "Zuma?" he asked in surprise.

The chocolate lab sat up and grinned sheepishly. "Hi Wyder."

"What's wrong?"

"Parent problems. I'm just worried… I heard evwything."

"Oh."

"You could cut the tension with your claws with them." He glanced down at his slightly sharper-than-average clawed paw.

"Why don't you sleep over with me?"

"Oh, thanks…" Zuma trotted over and then stopped with a start. "Are you sure that's okay?"

"It's no problem," Ryder replied as he scooped Zuma up from off the floor. "You're such a good pup."

"Thanks, Wyder…" Zuma yawned.

Ryder put Zuma on his chest and smiled at the water rescue pup. It didn't take long for the pup to go off to sleep.

The sight of the little chocolate pup asleep warmed Ryder's heart enough to go off to sleep on his own.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Christmas Eve's morning had arrived in Adventure Bay… but gosh darnit, nobody had the time or ease of mind to celebrate the events that would occur in twenty four hours.

Everyone was standing outside the Lookout looking in horror at the mess that lay before them. The hurricane had swept through, causing moderate, but sometimes deadly damage. Cars had been pushed around, some trees knocked over and furniture moved. A bunch of white feathers were ominously gathered in one place right by the lookout. A few houses in the area had been totally crushed, totally wrecked under the weight of an unfortunate heavy tree's demise.

Rocky gulped. "I-I-It's just like the f-flood again…"

"That it is," Pace replied, wincing. He glanced down at his hip fearfully.

Everyone remained silent until Scruffy finally said, "Well Ryder, are you going to say it?"

Ryder nodded. He didn't even bother pulling out his Pup Pad, but rather said in slight monotone, "PAW Patrol, to the Lookout."

"Well, you heard him; Ryder needs us," Chase said, his brown eyes widening as he dashed away. It was a little bit into his run that his collar actually began flashing. The others followed, some in their own sprints, most in between troops and trots, and a few in ambles.

Marshall slipped on some ice and collided with Rocky, but otherwise, not much happened. All of the active PAW Patrol members (the full-fledged members) had the liberty of the elevator, while the others had to take a locked door that Ryder unlocked to show an escalator.

The active PAW Patrol (that is, the original six and Miracle) got in the elevator, whilst the golden-age, trainee, and backup members took the escalator.

The elevator then stopped at the top of the Lookout where the pups lept out and got into their positions. Each wore their costumes: blue on Chase, pink on Skye, red on Marshall, orange on Zuma, yellow on Rubble, green on Rocky, and white on Miracle.

After a bit of delay time (about five minutes) the non-base members arrived. Storm led the charge in a black police vest, with Lightning in tan, Smoky in moderate blue, and Everest (who waved 'hi' and got a grin from Marshall and a short "hi" from Rubble) in teal.

Most interestingly, the legacy PAWs had more advanced-looking versions of the modern PAW Patrol costumes on. For example, Scruffy wore one like Marshall's, but had a hose spun around the side and an axe along the side of her costume. She also had a red fire helmet that even seemed to have a face guard.

Overall, you had Pace the police, Scruffy for fire, Gemini for medic, and Thala for eco. All had some kind of helmet, and the advancements.

"Ryder, sir? Permission to be impressed?"

The funky-haired boy grinned. "Go ahead, Rubble."

The little bulldog jumped up and down for a moment and then circled himself. "So cool!" he exclaimed over and over again. Other, less bombastic responses came in the form of "neats" and a Marshall rearing up and tripping.

"PAW Patrol is ready for action, sir," Chase and Pace said in unison, both of which had stayed still.

"Pups, we all know why we're here," Ryder said as he displayed an animation of the hurricane. "A huge hurricane blew through here last night and not only wrecked all of the decorations, but all of Adventure Bay. We need to get everything cleaned up in time for Christmas."

He swiped across the pup pad and pulled up Chase's, Storm's and Smoky's logos. "Chase, Storm, Smoky, Pace, I need you three to direct traffic and make sure we don't have any other incidents."

Chase barked, "Chase is on the case!"

"A storm is coming; Me."

"This Cop-pup is not runner up!"

He pulled up yet another member's logo. This time, it was Rubble's, along with the purple snow pup insignia.

"Rubble, I need you and Everest to help clear the snow and any branches in the area. Also, try to get rid of any large trees and rebuild any houses."

Calls of "Rubble on the double!" and "Ice or snow, I'm ready to go," were uttered in unison.

Ryder moved on to another logo: Skye's. Then he swiped to Zuma and Lightning. "Skye, Zuma, Lightning, we need to ensure that nobody's been lost in the storm."

"This puppy's gotta flyyyy!"

"Let's dive in!"

"I'll be there in a flash!"

Now it was Miracle's turn. "Miracle, Gemini, I need you to help Katie treat anyone who has been injured by the storm."

"Time to work some miracles."

"Aroof, Gemini's ready for action!"

And last but not least, Rocky and Marshall. "Rocky, find and recycle all of the ornaments you can find. Thala, you know to go too!"

"Don't lose it; reuse it!" both canines said in unison.

"Fire pups, Utsukushi, Shayla, Splotch… everybody, take on general help. Everyone in Adventure Bay is going to have to help us to get this done by Christmas morning."

"I'm fired up!"

"PAW Patrol is on a roll!"

All of the pups yipped and howled as their leader slid down the firepole. They then slid down the slide and to their respective vehicles before following Ryder into town. By contrast, the older members actually had skates grow out of the longer, waterproof sleeves of their costumes. "Can this get _any cooler?!_" Rubble exclaimed, as Thala passed his yellow bulldozer rig, going at a high speed.

A short clip of time of looking at varying degrees of destruction later, and Main Street was fully visible.

Chase felt that lump in his throat the moment he saw the damage that Main Street alone sustained. Decorations were everywhere: portions of buildings were torn apart. There was even one building where a tree flew through the window. Was that the Post Office?

Some of the other smaller streets they'd passed on their way there? Those were even worse than Main Street. He felt bad for the searching pups, because one house was decimated and he _hated _to think of what could lie under that rubble.

Not to mention, there was ice on the road and a bunch of people trying to drive...

"Chase!"

Chase rapidly shook his head; his cap fell off. He made to jump for it but Smoky beat him to it, handing it up to him. "Hey, we're going to East and West street to stop the chaos there, a'ight?" Storm said. It wasn't really a question, and Chase didn't need to ask about South street: Pace was already traveling in that direction. Chase just nodded, and added, "Be careful… icy streets and chaos…"

Rubble immediately got to work clearing the snow away from the roads while Skye flew high above Adventure Bay and used her goggles, which gave her the vision of an eagle, to see if anything was happening (beyond the chaos in the town, that was).

Rocky's first step was to get all of the ornaments that have fallen off and put them off to the side where nothing would happen to them. He would later have Marshall help him with resetting them. While he was putting them off to the side, he weeded through the bad ornaments and stashed them in his truck. The snow was also filled with spare parts that had fallen off of various structures and trees; he stashed those away as well. "Don't lose it, reuse it," he said under his breath.

"Rocky, catch!"

A large branch, about the mutt's size, flew at him, courtesy of Thala. Rocky barked with alarm, then yapped again, ducking and allowing the mechanical arm he had grab it. "Sorry; you have a lot more optimization for branches than I do," the veteran eco pup shouted. He had two large green carts behind him: one filled to the brim with branches even Rocky's mechanical arm would struggle to lift and the other with ornaments.

Rocky couldn't help but notice, as Thala zoomed ahead of him on the other side of the street, that he actually had gotten used to his costume again very quickly, as if it were an extension of himself. He had three mechanical arms out, though the ends were in the form of human hands rather than pinchers. _Could I ever be that way? _he wondered, his jaw a little bit low. He stopped his rig to lift up another him-sized branch.

Miracle and Gem kept their eyes peeled for any potential patients; Gem was sticking behind the path cleared by Thala. Her helmet was on over her eyes; it was actually built to sense blood flow or lack thereof.

It didn't take long for Miracle to spot a squirrel that was walking with a limp. She was actually the first to spot something. She jumped out of the rig, first-aid kit within her vest, walked up to it and said, "Need a paw?"

The gray squirrel jumped at Miracle's presence.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you," she said soothingly, "My name's Miracle, PAW Patrol medic. I just want to make sure you're okay." She yipped and said, "X-ray screen."

What deployed from her pup pack was a miniaturized version of Marshall's X-ray screen. She held it close to the squirrel as she ran it over him. "Wow, you're tougher than I thought; only a sprain." She yipped once to recall the X-ray screen and barked again. A blue and green pill launched out of a container on her pack. She incised it with her claw and bumped a small blue part to the squirrel. "That should get rid of the pain for a while," she told the small mammal. "Unfortunately, I don't have a small enough brace, so you might want to stay off of it for a while. Then again, I would tell you to stay off of it even if you did have one on. I have them custom made at the Lookout, so I'll stop by later and get on that."

The squirrel chirped in what Miracle hoped was comprehension, then scampered away, blue pill nub in its teeth. Miracle noticed the tenderness with which it scampered and smiled before getting back in her rig and driving again.

"STOP YOUR CARS, CONSTRUCTION GOING ON!"

Chase's voice boomed out of his megaphone. He looked over confusedly at Miracle, who was putting a few of the pills in a small tray in her rig. "Hey, are those the pills you had me take when Swift broke my ribs?"

"They are. A squirrel had a sprained leg, and I didn't have a brace small enough for it to wear with me." He looked briefly horrified, but then Miracle giggled. "Not a full one. Just about a sixteenth of one. I get the impression that I'll need them."

Chase shuddered and then shouted through his megaphone, "STOP, DON'T MOVE, SIT TIGHT!"

Miracle had to cover her ears due to how loud Chase's megaphone was. "Ow… Might need a hearing aid after this."

Meanwhile, at the Lookout, there was already a bit of progress. The large Christmas tree outside the place was already back up, and Scruffy and Marshall, using a slingshot of their own creation, were hurling the fixed ornaments that were there back into the tree. Scruffy shouted out "FORE" at random intervals, keeping them laughing.

"Nice shot, Mom," Marshall said.

"Thanks, kiddo," Scruffy replied with a grin, "I practice hard."

Marshall's eyes shined. "I know, and it really shows."

"Yep."

Both dalmatians continued their frenzy of flying ornaments. "This is actually pretty nice, a good change from focusing on what Utsu told me."

Scruffy raised a quizzical eyebrow. "That being?"

"Well, she told me that she thought that you didn't like her for some reason, but that's crazy! I mean, aside from Gem, you never had hard feelings for anyone, right?"

Scruffy snorted and laughed a bit. "Kiddo, I'm a proud dog. I stay mad for a while, but yeah, normally I don't get _too _much more combative than usual with them."

"What did Utsu do to make you, well… comm… combaahhh…"

"Combative, and… Well… It's not what she did; it's what I thought she was going to do."

Marshall tilted his head. "Huh?"

"Well, when you're out and about as much as I am, getting out and socializing, you hear stuff. Stuff about this dog doing this, that dog doing that. It gets jumbled, so you form ideas about certain types of dogs. Models like her… they, well, they tend to be- err, are stereotyped as _'shallow.' _I, uh… thought she might have been trying to break your heart for fun. That's something else they do. Or, word on the street says they do." The older dalmatian, always so sure of herself, looked very uncomfortable."

Marshall sighed, "Well, she wasn't one of 'those models.' You know that now, right mom?"

"I, ah…"

"And I can prove it, too! Should I?"

"That won't be necessary." Scruffy actually cracked a smile. "I oughta see for myself, don'cha think?"

"Yeah, maybe, but the story is _so _cool. Are you _sure _you don't want to hear it?"

Scruffy chuckled. "Hey, later. I want to form my own opinion on her based on _her, _not you. We've got a mission to do!"

She slingshot one more ornament into the tree.

It wasn't just any ornament, though.

It was the shiny gold star on top.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Rocky, I need your help!"

The mutt, in his recycling rig, drove over as quickly as possible, sliding to an abrupt halt. Thala the chocolate lab was standing in his legacy-PAW Patrol suit with all of his mechanical hands out. A gigantic piece of plywood was in front of him. "There's someone stuck under here and this is too heavy to drag, and impossible to maneuver with just these arms."

"On it," Rocky barked, deploying his own arm. With the three arms of Thala and the younger eco-pup, the plywood could be dragged out of the way, revealing Mayor Goodway beneath, shielding Chickaletta the chicken underneath.

"Oh, Rocky, thank you!" she cried out. "I thought for sure I would be crushed!" Her eyes wandered over to Thala. With a new uncertainty, she said, "Err, who are you?"

"Thala, ma'am. Member of the legacy PAW Patrol."

Gemini watched the scene with hawk-like gold eyes. They narrowed as she jumped from her perch on a roof (it was the building with the tree through the window she was on) and skated up to the eco pups. "What are you guys _doing_? There are other people to be saved, you know!"

Thala glared over at his ex-mate. "Just receiving a bit of recognition for a solid day's work. You have your own work to do. _Saving _missing people like I just did."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!" Goodway nonchalantly said. "Just… keep on saving Christmas!"

In spite of himself, Thala actually grinned, and his eyes happened to be trained on Gemini. The fellow lab took it as a cue to look competitive back. "You betcha!"

Gemini finally seemed to come to her senses and rolled her eyes, turning away with a snort. Thala walked over to Gemini and stepped right in front of her, glaring all of a sudden. "What is your problem anyway? Why do you insist on trying to rile me up?"

Gem snarled at Thala, but walked around him.

"I get your feelings toward Scruffy for the way she's acting, but why do you insist on torturing _me_ like this?"

"You? Tortured?" Gemini glared at Thala with a death-like stare. "Apparently you've never known what it's like to have one of your best friends be ripped away from you."

"You think I don't miss him? I was devastated when I found his body just laying there."

"Yeah, and bet you felt more at ease afterward."

Thala jumped back. He growled, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The way you looked at him. You didn't want him around me, so you wanted him to take that plunge."

"Now wait just a minute here, I knew how close you were to him, but if you're trying to imply that you were-"

"See, there you go again," Gem pointed out, "you're assuming the worst."

"Can you blame me? A friend of ours gosh darn died."

"And yet you're assuming that there was something more between us."

"Now where would you hear a thing like that?"

"That is none of your business."

"It is every bit my business if it's affecting the rest of the team."

"We're not a team anymore!"

"Then why are you wearing the uniform?"

Both labs remained silent

Thala turned away. "Look, why don't we talk about this later. Now is not the right time or place."

"No, we need to talk about this now." Gem said.

"Why? Clearly you don't care for me, or Zuma for that matter."

Gem was thrown aback from his response. She immediately snarled, "I do care about him."

"Enough to know when to shut up? I could see the look in his face, and I could tell that he doesn't want to be around us."

"Probably because we keep fighting…" Gemini sighed.

Thala didn't reply. Something had to be wrong if his own son didn't want to be around him. He looked at the pup, who was listening to the entire conversation, and said to him, "Zuma… I'm… I'm sorry. You shouldn't… _dread_ seeing us."

The words stung Gemini. She knew he was right. "Zuma… I'm so sorry we- I- messed up so badly. We've only been thinking about ourselves and, we need to be considering you, too."

"Is there any chance that you would be willing to forgive us?"

Zuma's tail was wagging a mile a minute as he stood up. Tears could be seen streaming down from his eyes. "I couldn't have it any other way."

Rocky smiled. He was glad Zuma's parents managed to patch that up. They may not be able to get back together, but at least they still loved Zuma, and could put their arguing behind them for Christmas.

Meanwhile, Rubble, Miracle, Marshall, and Chase were working around Adventure Bay, trying to help with the hurricane. Right now, Rubble and Marshall were working around the beach front. The hurricane was a category 3, about 145 miles an hour. There was a lot to do. It was a full blown miracle that no one was killed.

But some people were, unfortunately, wounded.

Said people, animals, and plants were lucky that Miracle was on the case, joined by Gemini. A medicine tent had been set up; the pair fixed up the patients with all of the necessary measures to fix their various wounds, injuries, and maladies.

There were only about four broken limbs, and while Captain Turbot was one of them, none of them were unfixable and would almost definitely be healed before spring, if not by Valentine's Day. A lot of the inhabitants at Adventure Bay were as lucky as that squirrel and had sprains, stress, scrapes, or back pain rather than something seriously incapacitating. Then again, with the latter, it was difficult to tell.

Marshall and Rubble were working closely together, as fate would have it. The bulldog looked over, confused, at the dalmatian. "Uh, hey, Marshall?"

"Yeah, Rubble?" the white pup chirruped, slowing down in his rig to drive right next to the inquiring pup.

"I heard your mom doesn't like Utsukushi, but now she does… what happened?"

The fire pup quirked an eyebrow, unable to help it. "Where have you been this whole time?"

Rubble chirped, "Playing hockey with Lightning and Everest."

"Oh. Well, she didn't like models as a whole, but then she suddenly decided that she wanted to 'form her own opinion' on Utsu."

"Oh, uh, okay..." Rubble swiftly went back to work…

...but Marshall continued talking, a freight train with his confused monologue: "I don't know how she feels about her. And, how can I argue with my own mom? She thinks we'll be dating, but who knows, we might!"

"Maybe," Rubble absentmindedly replied.

"Who am I kidding though?! I really care about her! I'd never want to leave her. Isn't that what a crush is about? Just never wanting to leave someone?"

"Yeah…" Rubble stopped to rearrange some small rocks. Then he froze up, dropping a pebble. "Hey, that means I have a crush on Chase, and you, and Rocky, and Zuma, and Ryder, and my mom, and everyone else! Ick!"

Marshall ignored the younger pup, "Okay, but… I don't know." The fire pup face-pawed. "Maybe I'm too young to even think about it. Heck, she's a good six months older than me!"

"Yikes. Maybe you should wait."

"But… Why should that matter? It's just six months. So what if we were born on different dates."

"You have a point."

"Maybe I should just walk up to her, tell her how I feel, right in front of my mom, and- Agh! My mom would kill me!"

"That wouldn't be good..."

"I know! Ugh! Why did she have to do this to me? I was perfectly happy before we met, and now… My entire world is just turned around."

"Do you wanna break up with her?"

Marshall looked taken aback by his friend's comment. "Break up? Break UP break up? Are you crazy? We aren't even dating, and… I didn't have feelings for her earlier today!"

Rubble groaned, "Look, if you're gonna complain about this, talk to someone who has experience?"

Marshall and his rig suddenly stopped, as if he slammed the brakes. He looked thunderstruck and horrified, as well as astonished, all in one facial expression.

Ryder stood a few hundred yards away from Katie's store, hair rad, funky, and brill. A large tree had been blown into it and destroyed the roof and several windows. Katie stood in front of the wreckage. She just stood there, holding what Ryder could only assume as Callie. He was trying to think of what to say, Katie loved that store, and he could only imagine how heartbroken she was. Even his hair couldn't distract him from the problem at hand: a sad friend.

Finally, Ryder moved over to Katie. He could now hear that she was crying. That made the scene even worse. When he was close enough to touch her, he calmly said, "Katie?"

Katie turned around, taking a deep breath, "Oh… Hi, Ryder."

The two stood there. Ryder looked at Katie, and Katie looked at the ground. After a few moments, Katie finally said, "Ryder?"

"Yeah?"

"... I really need your hair's magical healing power… maybe it can bring the store back!"

Ryder recoiled in surprise. "What?!"

Katie looked rightfully confused and disheartened as she said, "I really need a hug right now…"

"Oh." Ryder rubbed the back of his head (and the hair there). What the heck had just happened…? Maybe it was lack of sleep. "Oh! Sure, Katie."

Ryder put his arms around Katie, in a tight hug. Katie lay her head on Ryder's shoulder, and started sobbing in earnest.

That night, the entire PAW Patrol, Ryder, Katie, Callie, Utsukushi, and the parents were all around a large bonfire. Next to each pup, was a select amount of brightly colored packages, that were slightly dimmed by the dark night.

A long day had come to a close in the calm form. The hurricane's damages were still existent, to be sure, but everyone at least had a home and family to go to. Due to the focus on it, the street cleanup was already just about complete. Some houses were even repaired.

Every pair of eyes in the room, from the veteran Pace to the naive Marshall to the mature Miracle, was focused on the clock hanging above it. The seconds hand moved from the 10, to the 11…

A resonant click signified it when the clock's hands both reached twelve. The sounds of a wind chime joined it.

The first one who moved was Skye, who bounced out of her spot between Chase and Rubble with explosive enthusiasm. "Let's Party!" she exclaimed.

A bunch of things happened at once: Marshall tripped, Miracle sneezed, Pace howled in celebration with some other legacy members joining him in barks, and Lightning jumped up and started dancing. "C'mon Rubble, dance with me!" she said, pulling the bulldog over.

Marshall bounced up off the floor and promptly grabbed Zuma's paw. The two pups smiled brightly at each other and then began dancing wildly next to each other.

The sound of ripping paper came from Scruffy. The female dalmatian spoke over the din, "Wow, a new scarf, I needed that. Thanks, Thala!"

The chocolate lab was too busy laughing at a poorly-dancing Gemini to respond. The stray didn't look offended, but instead seemed to purposefully fudge up the moves to her dance even more than she might have otherwise done.

Chase bit into his present, a huge cookie, showering Storm and Rocky with crumbs. The mutt looked vaguely peeved, while the fellow police dog began licking herself promptly.

The eco-pup got away from the already near-bedlam of the exuberant celebration, shaking his long fur out. He was surprised to see his darker-furred brother Smoky looking out the window, his green eyes reflecting the gentle peppering of snow that he was watching. "What'cha looking at, Smoky?" he asked, unable to help himself.

The younger pup predictably had a delay time before he replied, "The outdoors."

Rocky smiled at the glittering snow after a moment of observation. "Yeah… it's pretty…"

A regal howl, very much dulled by the thick window of the Lookout, sounded, clearly heard between both brothers. Not a moment later, a large black canid ran by, long and wavy fur billowing. The richness of that primal sound could not have belonged to any creature other than a wolf.

"Wow…" Smoky said under his breath.

A cacophony of happy friends and families in the background, his brother at his side, Rocky stored the memory of the dark wolf in his mind forever.


End file.
